Monthly Archives: August 2012

As we reported earlier this month, the Bainbridge City Council
wants Washington State Ferries to
consider moving the taxi waiting area away from the front
entrance of the Bainbridge terminal.

WSF is taking the request seriously.

Ferries director David Moseley plans to meet with city
representatives to discuss congestion at the terminal, WSF
spokeswoman Marta Coursey said in an email Tuesday. Coursey said
ferry planners are evaluating a few options to share with the
city.

The council asked WSF to consider relocating the taxi waiting
area after hearing from islanders who said it was difficult to load
and unload at the terminal. Taxis, shuttle buses and private
vehicles share a narrow lane north of the building. Traffic crawls
through the zone during busy commuter hours and taxis queuing
along the curb outside the entrance make it tricky to drop off
walk-on passengers near the door.

“It’s something that I consider to be an obvious issue,”
Councilwoman Kirsten Hytopoulos said Aug. 16. “I mean, I don’t know
where we’re supposed to park to pick up our grandmas.”

When police asked a 29-year-old Bainbridge driver why his
registration tabs didn’t match his vehicle he told them he was
“borrowing” the tabs from a friend. Police arrested the man on Aug.
22 for possession of stolen property.

Also this week, two collisions in two days resulted in two deer
fatalities.

Caddisfly casings cling to
a rock pulled from Bainbridge’s Cooper Creek on Wednesday. (Below)
a frog keeps a wary eye on its surroundings. (Tad Sooter
photos)

When fly fishermen approach a stream they watch for a few
familiar bugs. A flurry of mayflies, caddisflies or stoneflies tell
an experienced angler what food fish are rising for.

When water quality specialists approach a stream they look for
the same insects for different reasons. To the trained eye,
those water-dwelling macro invertebrates offer clues to the overall
health of a creek.

Five years of data gathered from all 12 Bainbridge watersheds
and around the island’s shoreline went into the report. It’s the
first comprehensive study of island water health the city has
completed. The report confirmed that many island streams still
struggle with high levels of harmful bacteria and nutrients, and
low dissolved oxygen.

A 48-year-old Bainbridge cyclist crashed on Point White Drive on
Aug. 16 while trying to avoid a “skittish” collie on a leash. The
dog’s owner agreed to pay for repairs to the bicycle, which a bike
shop estimated at $1,200.

Also this week, burglars crawled through the window of a
north-island home and made off with more than $10,000 in jewelry
along with home electronics.

The Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center will no longer be
the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center when it
moves into its new space this winter. The City Council
voted Wednesday to change the Brien Drive building’s name to
Waterfront Park Community Center.

The Bainbridge senior
center board requested the change to clear up confusion
surrounding the name of the city-owned facility, which is also
referred to as the Bainbridge Commons. Senior center President
Don Fisher said the new name would also reflect the diverse range
of programs hosted at the building.

“We feel with the name change we’re better representing who we
are,” he said.

The city and senior center are splitting the cost of
a $500,000 reconstruction of the senior center’s space in the
west wing of the building. The senior center is operating out of
the east wing (pictured above) as construction continues. The west
wing was demolished in May.

Mayor Debbi Lester said the reconstruction project is on
schedule and on budget. A grand reopening is tentatively scheduled
for Dec. 4.

Mainstream boxing might be about making big money for big
promoters, but Little, founder of the Bainbridge Island Boxing
Club, is more interested in fighting for a good cause.

All money raised by his club’s “Battle for the Beasts”
exhibition Saturday will benefit the Kitsap Humane Society. The unlikely
pairing of pooches and pugilists was suggested by club member Laura
Swanson, who works at the shelter.

“I really like the idea of charity events,” said Little, 36. “It
highlights the majesty of the sport. It takes away the stigma, and
totally shows it in a different light.”

Little is billing the exhibition as the island’s first live
boxing event since 1906. The eight-round main event pits John
“Sandman” Daigneault against Dustin “Hurricane” Praxedes. The
headline bout will be followed by several five-round matches:
“Angel of Death” Swanson vs. Allison “Sugarfists” Spiceland; Isiah
“King Kong” Conner vs. Jason “Mean Mother” Tucker; and Jim
“Ironman” Savage vs. James “The Vanilla Gorilla” Miller. Ultimate
Fighting Championship veteran Ivan Salaverry will serve as a
celebrity judge.

When it comes to covering Bainbridge Island, I’ve joked with
some of my colleagues that I should have cut back on all the
journalism in college and spent more time studying law and
hydrogeology. That’s because the big stories on Bainbridge often
feature one or both of these topics, and having a better
understanding of their complexities would have served me well
during the eight years I’ve reported on the island.

It’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. The basic idea is the
university throws its doors open and lets me and the other four
fellows take whatever classes will make us better environmental
reporters. I’m planning on studying environmental sciences,
environmental law, and I may try and squeeze in some writing and
photojournalism courses. I’ll also attend conferences, go on field
trips, participate in fellowship seminars and work on a research
project.

With the other fellows hailing from the Los Angeles Times,
Spokesman-Review and Associated Press New Delhi bureau, I can tell
you that I’m still pinching myself that they let in a kid from the
Kitsap Sun.

Speaking of the Sun, the paper has been amazingly supportive
every step of the way, and have pledged to take me back when the
fellowship ends in May.

I’m leaving the Bainbridge beat in the talented and
highly-capable hands of Tad Sooter, whose byline has been appearing
regularly in the Bainbridge Islander and Kitsap Sun. He’s worked
for the Bainbridge Island Review, North Kitsap Herald and was the
editor of the Kingston Community News.

I’ve admired Tad’s work for years, and I’m glad the Sun’s
readers will be seeing more of his stories and photos.

You can read Sun editor David Nelson’s column about my departure
and Tad’s new role
here.

Please welcome Tad as he takes over this blog, and begins his
rounds around the island. You can reach him at
tad.sooter@gmail.com

A pothole was the apparent cause of a bicycle wreck that sent a
Seattle woman to the hospital Saturday. The cyclist was pedaling
west on Hidden Cove Road when she rolled over the pothole and lost
control. The woman was flown to Harborview for treatment of a head
injury and abrasions.